flooded

I started to cry

when I said thank you

to the woman clamping the paper

bib loosely around my neck

inserting the cold metal

contraption with x-ray film

into my mouth

bite down gently, she said

we’ll see what’s going

on in there

what’s going on in there

is

anyone’s guess

this morning

I cried

rivers of tears while

I waited three hours in the rain

enough to fill my car

enough to flood the

parking lot of the free clinic

and the house I used to live in

on Falkland Dr

enough to unearth the tombs

of bodies long buried

to ask me what was

becoming of my life

and how I got here

and what was wrong with me

and shouldn’t I have written

a different more lovely story

if not for me than for god's sake

for the kids

and how this ends

is

anyone’s guess

this morning

and this river

and this story

and this body

unearthed

uprooted

your tooth, the dentist enters to say

was wedged apart over time

by sustained stress

on the old metal filling

packed long ago to

fill decay

we can fix it, he says

it’s not as bad as it feels

against your tongue